Yahoo—Yahoo acquired Tumblr for $1.1 billion, later wrote down value by $700+ million
In May 2013, Yahoo acquired Tumblr for $1.1 billion, one of 49 acquisitions totaling $2.2 billion during this period. By 2016, Yahoo wrote down Tumblr's value by over $700 million, representing a significant failed investment and shareholder value destruction.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corporate Governance | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.644 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (medium ×1) × confidence (0.64)
Evidence (2 signals)
CNBC detailed Tumblr's decline from $1.1B acquisition to $3M fire sale
CNBC published a comprehensive retrospective on Yahoo's Tumblr acquisition for $1.1 billion in 2013, subsequent $712 million in writedowns in 2016, and eventual sale to Automattic for just $3 million in 2019 — a 99.7% loss.
CNN Money reported Yahoo wrote down $482 million of Tumblr value
CNN Money reported that Yahoo wrote down $482 million of Tumblr's value in Q2 2016, following an earlier $230 million writedown, citing lower projections for the platform's performance.